still broke; sometimes knitting

gah!

Gah! School is starting on Thursday!? How did this happen? Where did the summer go? Everyone is moving back and all of my social phobias are kicking into high gear. Not good. Especially considering I have to teach on Thursday. And nothing is less fun than being the freaky grad student at the front of the room in your non-J.Crew clothing announcing that you don’t accept late work and want everyone to come to class on time and, oh yeah, you have to speak in German too. And then we do those stupid introduce-yourself-to-the-class exercises that I always hated and I’m the most awkward one in the room even though I’m 26 and could so talk circles around my students in German.

Because, really, this is what my life is like:

I buy cat furniture. And am then thwarted by the perverseness of felines. If I can’t control my cat, how can I ever hope to bend a bunch of 18 year olds to my will?

I knit stuff, too. And, trust me, freshmen do not think this is cool or authoritative or any of those things that could distract them from my nervousness and really make them believe that I mean what I say about the late work.

But I don’t just knit. I often then pull it all apart and start over. Or rewind the yarn and horde it in boxes that I stare at balefully and wonder what in the world I’m doing with all of this yarn when I have to teach on Thursday. And take a big exam in October. And pay my bills.

Regardless of these considerations, look what I started:

Beautiful Kochoran, take me away! Wool, silk, angora … it’s lovely! Based on Crazy Aunt Purl’s magic scarf. I was trying to figure out what in the world I needed another scarf for (basketweave this time!) until I remembered that my new apartment is basically uninsulated and unheated, so come December, I’ll be needing a lot of extra warmth.

I don’t know if you can tell from the photo, but the colors are gorgeous — lots of purples, grays, and blues. Just the ticket for cold weather. Or cold apartments.

Like this:

Related

Post navigation

One thought on “gah!”

Ok, here’s what you do. You take some of your cat furniture and a pair of knitting needles to your class. You stand on top of the cat furniture to increase your height and intimidate the new students. Then you point at them with your knitting needles and speak firmly in German. Either A, they’ll think you’re crazy and want to do anything you say because they’re scared of you, or B, they’ll think you’re funny and maybe you could befriend them, earning their respect and then they will drown in guilt if they don’t turn their work in on time! Brillant.